Load balancing for a satellite network

ABSTRACT

In one implementation, load balancing within a constellation of communications satellites is performed. Anticipated positions of satellites are determined. Each satellite is configured to provide multiple beams that define a coverage footprint for the satellite. Based on the anticipated positions of the satellites, it is determined that a first coverage footprint for a first satellite provides primary coverage of a high traffic region and portions of the first coverage footprint for the first satellite also will be covered by coverage footprints for other satellites, Based on these determinations, a beam assignments are defined in which a first subset of beams of the first satellite configured to provide coverage of a first portion of the first coverage footprint are inactive and a second subset of beams of the second satellite are active. The second subset of beams of the second satellite provide coverage within the first portion of the first coverage footprint.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/347,076 filed on Jun. 7, 2016, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to satellite networks, and morespecifically to load balancing for satellite networks.

SUMMARY

According to one implementation of the disclosure, load balancing withina constellation of communications satellites is performed. Anticipatedpositions of satellites are determined. Each satellite is configured toprovide multiple beams that define a coverage footprint for thesatellite. Based on the anticipated positions of the satellites, it isdetermined that a first coverage footprint for a first satelliteprovides primary coverage of a high traffic region and portions of thefirst coverage footprint for the first satellite also will be covered bycoverage footprints for other satellites, Based on these determinations,a beam assignments are defined in which a first subset of beams of thefirst satellite configured to provide coverage of a first portion of thefirst coverage footprint are inactive and a second subset of beams ofthe second satellite are active. The second subset of beams of thesecond satellite provide coverage within the first portion of the firstcoverage footprint.

According to another implementation of the disclosure, congestion withina constellation of low-Earth orbit communications satellites ismitigated. Each satellite has a phased array antenna configured toprovide multiple beams that collectively define a coverage footprint forthe satellite with individual ones of the beams configured to providecoverage of a respective portion of the coverage footprint. It isdetermined that a first coverage footprint for a first satellite withinthe constellation of satellites provides primary coverage of a hightraffic region. As a consequence of having determined that the firstcoverage footprint for the first satellite covers a high traffic region,a first subset of beams of the first satellite configured to providecoverage of a first portion of the first coverage footprint isinactivated. While the first subset of beams of the first satellite areinactive, a second satellite within the constellation of satellites forwhich a second coverage footprint overlaps with the first coveragefootprint is operated with a second subset of beams configured toprovide coverage within the first portion of the first coveragefootprint as active.

Other features of the present disclosure will be apparent in view of thefollowing detailed description of the disclosure and the accompanyingdrawings. Implementations described herein, including theabove-described implementations, may include a method or process, asystem, or computer-readable program code embodied on computer-readablemedia.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, referencenow is made to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a satellite system in accordancewith a non-limiting implementation of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are flow charts of methods for out-of-band interferencemitigation and load balancing, respectively, in satellite communicationnetworks in accordance with non-limiting implementations of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is an example of beam laydown patterns for several satellites ina satellite network in accordance with a non-limiting implementation ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an example time-lapse illustration of a satellite system inaccordance with a non-limiting implementation of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are examples of beam laydown patterns for severalsatellites in a satellite system in accordance with a non-limitingimplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a high-level block diagram of a satellite system in accordancewith a non-limiting implementation of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are examples of beam laydown patterns for severalsatellites in a satellite system in accordance with a non-limitingimplementation of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A constellation of low-Earth orbit (“LEO”) (e.g., at an altitude betweenthe Earth's surface and approximately 2,000 km or 1,200 miles)communications satellites may provide mobile and/or fixed communicationsservices (e.g., voice and data communications services) across much ofthe Earth. In fact, in some implementations, a constellation of LEOcommunications satellites may be configured to provide communicationsservices across the entire globe (or substantially the entire globe).For example, the Iridium® LEO satellite constellation provides globalcommunications services.

In some implementations, constellations of LEO communications satellitesinclude satellites arranged into orbital planes. For example, in oneparticular implementation, a constellation of LEO communicationssatellites includes 66 satellites arranged in 6 near-polar orbitalplanes of 11 satellites each such that the satellites' orbits convergeover the poles and are farthest apart near the equator. In someimplementations, individual satellites within constellations of LEOcommunications satellites may be configured to establish wirelesscommunications cross-links (e.g., radio frequency (“RF”), optical, etc.communications cross-links) with neighboring satellites, effectivelyforming a mesh network in space. In other implementations, individualsatellites within a constellation may not be cross-linked.

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a LEO constellation of cross-linkedcommunications satellites 600. In this particular implementation, theconstellation of satellites 600 is arranged in 6 near-polar orbitalplanes 602(a)-602(f) of 11 satellites each. As illustrated in FIG. 6,individual satellites maintain communications crosslinks withneighboring satellites in the fore, aft, east, and west directions. Asfurther illustrated in FIG. 6, the orbital planes 602(a)-602(f) convergenear the Polar Regions and are farthest apart near the equator. Theconstellation of satellites 600 is configured so that the coveragefootprints of the individual satellites collectively cover the entireEarth. Near the equator, where the orbital planes 602(a)-602(f) arespaced relatively far apart, there may be relatively little overlap ofthe coverage footprints provided by individual satellites. However, asyou move north and south from the equator and the orbital planes602(a)-602(f) begin to converge, there may be progressively more overlapof the coverage footprints provided by individual satellites.

Consider the illustrations in FIGS. 5A and 5B showing examples of beamcoverage provided by one example of a LEO satellite constellation in ascenario where an individual satellite is not providing any coverage.FIG. 5A illustrates the resulting coverage hole 502 near 0° latitudewhere individual satellites are spaced relatively far apart while FIG.5B illustrates the resulting coverage hole 504 near 50° latitude whereindividual satellites are spaced more closely together. As can beunderstood by comparing the coverage holes 502 and 504 illustrated inFIGS. 5A and 5B, respectively, as satellites move north and/or southaway from the equator, their coverage footprints increasingly overlap.Consequently, in the scenario where an individual satellite within theconstellation is not providing any coverage, the resulting size of thecoverage hole decreases as that satellite moves away from the equator.

In some cases, individual satellites within a LEO constellation ofcommunications satellites may be limited as to the number ofsimultaneous active communication sessions they can service. Forexample, an individual satellite may be limited by the number ofchannels and/or carriers the satellite can accommodate,satellite-to-satellite cross-link bandwidth limitations, satelliteprocessing capacity, and/or network bandwidth among other potentiallimitations. In fact, in certain situations, even if an individualsatellite is not fully loaded in terms of the number of communicationssessions it is serving with subscriber equipment at a given point, otherlimitations, including satellite-processing capacity, among others, maylimit the number of communications sessions the satellite can service.

In certain implementations, an individual subscriber terminal mayattempt to initiate a communications session or otherwise secure acommunication channel by transmitting a signal or service acquisitionrequest to a satellite, such as, for example, the satellite that iswithin range of the subscriber terminal from which the subscriberterminal receives the strongest signal. In response, the satellite mayassign the communications session to one or more channels based on avariety of factors, including, for example, availability and servicelevel agreements. In some cases, if the satellite has no channelsavailable for allocation or does not have sufficient resources toservice the communication session, the satellite may deny or otherwiseblock the acquisition request. In certain scenarios, the denial of anacquisition request may result the in issuance of a flow control event.Flow control events may be network management messages generated inresponse to a satellite network event, such as, for example, when asubscriber signal acquisition request is blocked due to lack ofsatellite resources. Flow control threshold events can be triggered insimilar situations when certain resource availability thresholds withina satellite (or, for example, bandwidth limitations within an area of asatellite network) are exceeded.

In some cases, even though a LEO constellation of communicationssatellites may provide coverage of the entire globe or of very largeregions of the globe, a small number of regions nevertheless may beresponsible for a majority or a substantial amount of the overallnetwork traffic. In such cases, network flow control events may be morelikely to be triggered by satellites covering these particular heavytraffic regions than satellites covering neighboring regions whereresource demand is lower. In one particular example, Central and WesternEurope may represent a region where demand for satellite communicationsresources is quite high due to a large number of active subscribers, andthe coverage footprint of a single satellite may be configured tosubstantially cover the entire region during a given period of time.Meanwhile, neighboring regions, such as, for example, including portionsof the Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Europe and Russia to the west andeast, respectively, may represent regions where resource demand islower.

For example, referring to FIG. 7A, the coverage footprint 700 of a firstsatellite at a particular point of time may provide primary coverage formuch of the high traffic region of Central and Western Europe, while thecoverage footprint 704 of a second, neighboring satellite providesprimary coverage for a region of the Atlantic Ocean and the coveragefootprint 706 of a third, neighboring satellite provides primarycoverage for a region including much of Eastern Europe and a portion ofRussia. If the first satellite is used to service all of the demand inthe high traffic region of central a Western Europe for which itscoverage footprint 702 provides primary coverage, in some situations,the first satellite may become overloaded. Therefore, as described ingreater detail below, in some implementations, neighboring satelliteswith coverage footprints that overlap coverage footprint 702, such asfor example, coverage footprint 704 of the second satellite and coveragefootprint 706 of the third satellite, may be used to service some of theload from the high traffic region of Central and Western Europe.

In some implementations, individual communications satellites havephased array antennas that provide multiple beams that collectivelydefine the coverage footprints of their respective satellites. In oneparticular implementation, each individual communications satellite mayhave a phased array antenna configured to provide 48 beams, whichcollectively define the coverage footprint for the satellite. Forexample, referring to FIG. 7A, coverage footprint 702 is composed of 18interior, circular beams and 30 finger-shaped beams extending outwardfrom the interior. Furthermore, each beam may provide a number ofdifferent frequency sub-bands and/or one or more different multiplexingschemes may be employed to enable the beam to service multiple differentcommunications channels concurrently. For example, in one particularimplementation, each beam may provide 24 frequency sub-bands, each ofwhich may be capable of servicing 10 communications sessionsconcurrently, such that each individual beam is capable of servicing 240concurrent communications sessions. In some implementations, the beampattern for an individual satellite may be fixed. Alternatively, inother implementations, individual satellites may be configured toprovide steerable or otherwise configurable beams and/or beam patterns.

Under certain circumstances, the phased array antennas and/or othersubsystems of the communications satellites may generate out-of-bandinterference. For example, communications satellites may generate asignificant amount of noise and/or other spurious transmissions inadjacent, neighboring, and/or nearby frequency bands. As one particularexample, some L-band communications satellites systems have been citedas causing out-of-band interference with observations being attempted byradio astronomers. In some implementations, each beam provided by theantenna of an individual satellite is powered by at least one high-powerbeam driver, for example, including one or more amplifiers. Such beamdrivers and/or amplifiers may generate out-of-band transmissions thatpotentially may cause interference that may be problematic forapplications in other frequency bands. Moreover, intermodulationproducts generated by phased array antennas driving multiple beams alsopose the potential to create out-of-band interference. Suchintermodulation products may stem from front-end amplifiers enteringnon-linear operation regions, for example, resulting in compositeintermodulation products at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th harmonics ofcarrier signal frequencies. As the number of simultaneously activecarriers is increased, the out-of-band interference effects, forexample, attributable to the intermodulation products may increasedramatically.

The teachings of the present disclosure describe systems and methods forbalancing loads in satellite networks and systems and methods formitigating out-of-band interference in satellite networks. As describedin greater detail below, in some specific implementations, decreasingthe number of active satellite beams on certain satellite vehicles(e.g., satellites located over particular regions) may reduce orotherwise mitigate out-of-band interference, which may be particularlyuseful when the satellite vehicles are located over regions susceptibleto out-of-band interference, such as, for example, radio astronomyobservation centers. Additionally or alternatively, and as alsodescribed in greater detail below, neighboring satellites may be used tobalance loads such that loads are moved away from satellites havingcoverage footprints that provide primary coverage of high trafficregions. In some cases, sharing loads with neighboring satellites inthis manner may decrease load acquisition blocking and other servicerequest denials, improve load servicing, decrease beam driver noise fromactive beams, and decrease composite intermodulation productinterference from simultaneous carrier transmission on and across activebeams.

Intuition suggests that, in order to provide adequate coverage of a hightraffic area, as many beams as possible should be activated to servicethe high traffic area. However, as described herein, in certainimplementations, loads are shifted from one satellite that providesprimary coverage to a high traffic region to a neighboring satellite bydeactivating one or more beams of the satellite that provides primarycoverage to the high traffic region. Among other things, loads can referto, for example, subscriber terminal devices such as satellite phones,satellite hotspot devices, machine-to-machine or “Internet of Things”sensors and corresponding communications devices, other data consumerssuch as network subscribers, or any other device capable of initiatingcommunication sessions with a satellite network.

In certain implementations, each satellite within a LEO constellation ofsatellites includes a controller that manages the activation anddeactivation of beams provided by the satellite's antenna system. Forexample, in some implementations, the controller may be configured tomanage the activation and deactivation of beams by switching on and offone or more corresponding beam drivers and/or amplifiers that powerindividual beams. The controller can activate or de-activate particularbeams responsive to instructions, such as instructions received from aterrestrial Earth station or instructions in a beam laydown table loadedinto a memory of the satellite that is accessible by the controller. Insome implementations, the activation of beams of each satellite isdependent upon one or more of the physical location of the satellitealong its orbit (e.g., the latitude of the satellite) and/or a time. Forexample, a beam laydown table for a particular satellite may specifyactivation instructions for each beam provided by the satellite for eachof multiple predefined increments of time, for instance, in four-secondtime intervals. Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations,beam activation can be controlled dynamically during any period of time,including on a continuous ongoing basis, such as, for example, inresponse to real-time updates from a terrestrial Earth station or bylogic on board an individual satellite.

In particular implementations, a load balancing system may be operatedin conjunction with an out-of-band interference mitigation system. Forexample, the techniques described in the present disclosure, in additionto mitigating out-of-band interference, also may alleviate overloading(e.g., of individual satellite capacity and/or network or communicationcross-link bandwidth). In some implementations, the load balancingsystem can process real-time feedback from satellites regarding resourceloads. In some such implementations, this information can be used toformulate a strategy for both out-of-band interference mitigation andload balancing.

In certain implementations, a particular region is targeted forout-of-band interference mitigation. For example, certain applicationssusceptible to out-of-band interference (e.g., radio astronomy) may bemost prevalent in regions between ±35°-55° latitude. In this example,each region between ±35° and 55° latitude (i.e., the region between +35°and +55° latitude and the region between −35° and −55° latitude) isconsidered within the target region. In particular implementations,out-of-band interference, resulting, for example, from beam driver noiseand/or composite intermodulation interference effects may be mitigatedby deactivating one or more beams from one or more satellites thatprovide coverage within or nearby the target region.

In certain implementations, a satellite that provides coverage of thetarget region (e.g., a satellite that provides primary coverage of thetarget region) receives instructions to de-activate particular beams,for example, upon determination that the satellite is responsible forcovering the target region. In such implementations, terminals locatedin the target region that otherwise may be serviced by the de-activatedbeams may instead establish communications sessions via one or morebeams provided by an alternative neighboring satellite that provides anoverlapping coverage footprint. In particular implementations, acommunications session or signal “hand-off” procedure is implementedprior to de-activating any beams. In such implementations, the hand-offprocedure may involve transitioning an active communications sessionfrom one satellite to another and/or from one beam to another. In thiscase, the hand-off procedure transfers management and servicing of thecommunications session to a neighboring satellite and/or an alternativebeam. The neighboring satellite and/or beam may have sufficient, or evena surplus of additional resources, available to service the transferredsession.

In certain implementations, beams provided by the antenna systems ofsatellites may be steerable such that the beam patterns of thesatellites can be changed to produce virtually any arbitrary laydownpattern. In alternative implementations, beam patterns may be fixed.Consider an example beam laydown pattern as shown in FIG. 3. In certainimplementations, beams are merely activated or de-activated (i.e.,turned on and/or off), and beam shape is not modified. In certainalternative implementations, beam shapes may be modified to extend beamcoverage from neighboring low load satellites to high load regions toassist in transferring loads from high load satellites. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 3, satellite 310 a provides beams 55 a-h havingconfigurable patterns, satellite 310 b provides beams 61 a-j havingconfigurable patterns, and satellite 310 c provides beams 100 a-100 fhaving configurable patterns.

Consider also the time lapsed illustration of satellite beam coveragefor an example satellite 420 in low earth orbit as shown in FIG. 4.Dotted line 410 represents the satellite's 410 near-polar orbit, whiledotted line 412 represents the equator. When the satellite 420 is nearthe equator (i.e., off the coast of South America as illustrated in FIG.4) (represented by reference numeral 420 c), all or nearly all of thesatellite's beams are turned on. In fact, the large extent of thesatellite's 420 c coverage footprint 422 c is easily seen in theillustration. By contrast, consider the same satellite's 420 coveragefootprint 422 b along its orbit above the East coast of North America(represented by reference numeral 420 b), which, for the purposes ofthis example, may be considered a high load region (e.g., due to thelarge number of active subscriber terminals expected in the region). Asillustrated in FIG. 4, the coverage footprint 422 b of the satellite 420b at this stage is much smaller in extent, as one or more of the beamsof the satellite 420 b have been deactivated, and coverage of the areais shared with one or more beams from one or more other neighboringsatellites that can “steal” loads that otherwise might be serviced bythe satellite 420 b. The load balancing illustrated in this particularexample is accomplished by switching off active beams from the satellite420 when positioned over regions associated with high traffic or otherloading. Beams from other satellites then are used to help serviceportions of the high load region.

With reference to FIG. 1, a system 100 for load balancing and/orout-of-band interference mitigation is illustrated in the context of asatellite communications network in a non-limiting implementation of thepresent disclosure. System 100 includes satellite network 110 (e.g., aLEO constellation of communications satellites), which also includesindividual satellites 120 and 130. Each satellite includes a controller124 configured to, among other functions, control phased array antenna122 to control characteristics of the one or more beams provided byphased array antenna 122. Satellite network 110 transmits and receivesmessages to/from Earth station 160 through terminal 162, which, amongother features, functions as an interface for routing communicationsbetween satellite network 110 and external network 170. Earth station160 includes server 150 that includes memory 152, processor(s) 156 a,hard disk 156 b, interface 156 c, and input/output device 156 d.Processor(s) 156 a loads instructions into memory 152 and executesinstructions that have been loaded into memory 152, such as, forexample, beam planning process 154.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, satellite 130 and neighboring satellite 120provide overlapping coverage regions. Satellite 130 provides coverage bydriving individual beams (e.g., beam 134) that collectively define thecoverage footprint of satellite 130, for example, as illustrated in FIG.1, between dotted lines 132 a and 132 b. Meanwhile, satellite 120provides coverage by driving individual beams (e.g., beam 144) thatcollectively define the coverage footprint of satellite 120, forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 1, between lines 122 a and 122 b. Beam144 from satellite 120 and beam 134 from satellite 130 providerespective beam coverage areas 126 and 136 respectively. Beam coverageareas 126 and 136 overlap to produce overlapping coverage region 140.

In certain implementations, a subscriber terminal located in overlappingcoverage region 140 may request a communications session from satellite130. For example, a user of the terminal may initiate a telephony voicecall or a data request using a satellite phone. The subscriber terminalmay be configured to detect coverage provided by multiple satellitesand, when coverage from multiple satellites is detected, to employ oneor more methods to determine from which satellite to request acommunications session. For example, in certain implementations, theterminal may determine the relative strength of each of beams 144 and134. As illustrated in FIG. 1, since satellite 130 is located moredirectly over the terminal and is closer to overlapping region 140, beam134 may be generally stronger than beam 144. Accordingly, the terminalmay be configured to initiate the communications session via satellite130. If so, satellite 130 will allocate bandwidth and other resourcesfor use in the communications session with the terminal. For example,satellite 130 may allocate a frequency sub-band, carrier, and/orspecified time slot within beam 134 for the communications session andinitiate the communications session with the terminal. However, in theevent that satellite 130 is overloaded (e.g., due to satelliteprocessing capacity limitations and/or network or wirelesscommunications cross-link bandwidth limitations) or satellite 130otherwise is unable to allocate enough resources to service thecommunications session (e.g., due to other contemporaneous resourcedemands, such as by other terminals within service area 132), theterminal may repeat its request to initiate a communication session withsatellite 130, which may be denied repeatedly due to resourceconstraints.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a special interest region 182 is shown withdotted lines. Special interest region 182 may be a region that has beenidentified as being susceptible to out-of-band interference and/or ahigh traffic region. For example, other applications that potentiallymay be impacted negatively by out-of-band interference may be locatedwithin special interest region 182, such as, for example, radioastronomy observatory 190. Additionally or alternatively, historicaland/or real time utilization data may be used to determine that specialinterest region 182 is a high traffic region. In some implementations, aregion like special interest region 182 may be defined based on alatitude range. However, any of a variety of different characteristicscould be used to define a region like special interest region 182. Forexample, a special interest region may be defined as a square or acircle having a specified area. As described herein, beam planningprocess 154 may make beam assignment determinations for an individualsatellite based on whether the satellite provides coverage (e.g.,primary coverage) of or within a special interest region like specialinterest region 182.

In certain implementations, beam planning process 154 determinesposition information for each satellite in network 110, for example,based on predetermined orbits for the satellites and/or based onreal-time position and trajectory information. Additionally oralternatively, beam planning process 154 determines when each satellitein network 110 is positioned to provide coverage (e.g., primarycoverage) of a high traffic region and/or a region susceptible toout-of-band interference. For example, beam planning process 154 mayutilize satellite location information to determine when beams providedby an individual satellite may cause out-of-band interference that maynegatively impact other applications, such as, for example, radioastronomy observatory 190. In such implementations, beam planningprocess 154 also determines beam laydown assignments (e.g., in somecases in the form of beam laydown tables or beam operating instructions)for individual satellites, for example, based on anticipated satelliteposition and/or whether beam planning process 154 determines thesatellites are positioned to provide coverage of a high traffic regionand/or a region susceptible to out-of-band interference. In someimplementations, beam planning process 154 may make the above describeddeterminations based on historical satellite network 110 data.Additionally or alternatively, beam planning process 154 may make suchdeterminations based on real-time observations and/or predictions.

In some implementations, beam planning process 154 may determine beamassignments (e.g., active or inactive) for an individual satellite basedon satellite resource utilization levels. For example, thresholdsregarding resource utilization levels may direct that utilization of thesatellite remain below a predetermined threshold. If the threshold isexceeded, or a threat to exceed the threshold is detected, beam planningprocess 154 may modify beam assignments, for example, to offload certainloads from the satellite to neighboring satellites. For example, if afirst satellite is expected to be servicing a high load region during aparticular period of time and is not capable of keeping its resourceutilization below, for example, 80% of its maximum capacity, the firstsatellite may be flagged for load redistribution to neighboringsatellites. If so, beam coverage areas of the first satellite may bereviewed to identify beam coverage areas expected to service regionsassociated with high loads. Those coverage areas then may becrosschecked against beam coverage areas from neighboring satellites todetermine if one or more neighboring satellite beams overlap with andcan service the regions associated with the high loads.

In particular implementations, an instruction to turn off or de-activatea beam of an individual satellite (e.g., beam 134 on satellite 130) isgenerated and stored in a beam assignment table. For example, beamplanning process 154 may predict the position of satellite 130 withrespect to region 182 during a particular period of time and generate aninstruction to turn off beam 134 while satellite 130 is providingcoverage of region 182. Similarly, beam planning process 154 maygenerate instructions to turn on or activate one or more beams on one ormore neighboring satellites that, for example, provide overlappingcoverage with beam 134, such as, for example, beam 144 of satellite 120.In certain implementations, two or more beams from two or moreneighboring satellites may be used to cover the overlapping region. Forexample, when beam 134 is deactivated, satellite 130 may not provide anycoverage within region 136. Consequently, additional beams fromsatellite 120, such as, for example, beam 144, and/or other networksatellites may be used to service region 136 while beam 134 remainsdeactivated.

In certain implementations, beam planning process 154 generates beamassignments for individual satellites for each of multiple differentintervals of time for an extended period of time into the future. Forexample, in some implementations, beam planning process 154 generates abeam assignment for each satellite for each 4-second interval for anextended period of time into the future (e.g., 36 hours).

Additionally or alternatively, in particular implementations, beamplanning process 154 may generate a real-time or near real-time beamassignment that is transmitted to satellites 110 on a real-time or nearreal-time basis. For example, in such implementations, beam planningprocess 154 may use real-time satellite resource utilization informationand/or anticipated service demand (e.g., load information) to preparethe real-time or near real-time beam assignments.

In particular implementations, beam planning process 154 transmits beamassignments (e.g., in the form of beam laydown tables, beam assignmenttables, instructions, or the like) to each satellite 110 and/or receivesinformation from (or relevant to) individual satellites 110 (e.g., likesatellite resource utilization information, service demand information,and loading information) via Earth station 160 and ground terminal 162.In such implementations, after an individual satellite, such as, forexample, satellite 120 or satellite 130 receives a beam assignment frombeam planning process 154, the individual satellite may store the beamassignment in memory 126, such as, for example, the beam laydown table128 stored in memory 126. Controller 124 then may access the beamassignment from memory 126 and control antenna array 122 in accordancewith the beam assignment.

With reference to FIG. 2A, a method 200 for out-of-band interferencemitigation for a satellite communications network is shown in accordancewith a non-limiting implementation of the present disclosure. In someimplementations, the method 200 illustrated in FIG. 2A may be performedby the processor(s) 156 a of FIG. 1 executing beam planning process 154stored in memory 152.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, at step 210, anticipated positions ofindividual satellites within a satellite communications network (e.g., aLEO constellation of communications satellites) are determined. In someimplementations, the anticipated positions of the individual satellitesmay be determined based on planned orbits for the satellites.Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations, the anticipatedpositions of the individual satellites may be determined based onsatellite ephemeris data and/or real-time or near real-time datareceived from one or more of the individual satellites.

At step 215, a determination is made, based on the anticipated positionsof the satellites, that, during a defined period of time, portions of acoverage footprint for a first satellite also will be covered by one ormore coverage footprints of other satellites of the satellitecommunications network. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7A, adetermination may be made that portions of the coverage footprint 702 ofa first satellite also will be covered by the coverage footprints ofother satellites (e.g., coverage footprints 704 and 706 of a second andthird satellite, respectively) during a defined time period. In certainimplementations, the coverage footprint of an individual satellite maybe considered to be the footprint that would be covered (or thefootprint within which a minimum service level and/or signal strength isavailable) if all of the beams provided by the satellite were activeconcurrently. In other implementations, the coverage footprint of anindividual satellite may be defined according to one or more additionalor alternative characteristics of the satellite's coverage. For example,with reference to FIG. 7A, the coverage footprint 702 of the firstsatellite may be considered to be the footprint covered when all 48beams of the first satellite are active as illustrated for coveragefootprint 702 in FIG. 7A. Alternatively, the coverage footprint 702 maybe considered to be the circle that best fits the coverage footprintshape 702 when all 48 beams of the first satellite are active. Incertain implementations, the individual beams of a satellite may beremain in fixed positions relative to the satellite. In suchimplementations, the coverage footprint for the satellite and/or thefootprints covered by individual beams provided by the satellite may bedetermined based on the fixed positioning of the individual beamsrelative to the position of the satellite and the anticipated positionof the satellite. In alternative implementations, individual beams maybe configurable and/or steerable such that the coverage footprint of asatellite or individual beams provided by the satellite may be modifieddynamically.

Based on having determined that portions of the coverage footprint forthe first satellite also will be covered by coverage footprints for theother satellites during the defined time period, at step 220, a beamassignment for the first satellite is defined for the defined timeperiod in which a subset of the beams of the first satellite areinactive, and, at step 225, a beam assignment for a second satellite isdefined for the defined time period in which a subset of the beams ofthe second satellite are active. For example, referring to FIG. 7B,based on having determined that portions of the coverage footprint 702of the first satellite also will be covered by the coverage footprintsof other satellites, including, for example, the coverage footprints 704and 706 of a second and third satellite, respectively, a beam assignmentfor the first satellite may be defined in which the 30 finger-shapedbeams extending out from the center of coverage footprint 702 aredeactivated while the 18 inner beams remain activated. Meanwhile, all 48beams of the second satellite may be activated. In this manner,individual ones of some of the finger-shaped beams extending out fromthe center of coverage footprint 704 may provide coverage for a portionof the coverage footprint 702 that is not covered by the first satellitefollowing the deactivation of the 30 finger-shaped beams extending outfrom the center of coverage footprint 702. Similarly, as alsoillustrated in FIG. 7B, all 48 beams of the third satellite also may beactivated. In this manner, individual ones of some of the finger-shapedbeams extending out from the center of coverage footprint 706 mayprovide coverage for a portion of the coverage footprint 702 that is notcovered by the first satellite following the deactivation of the 30finger-shaped beams extending out from the center of coverage footprint702. Consequently, a subscriber terminal located within coveragefootprint 702 that otherwise may be serviced by the first satellite ifthe 30 finger-shaped beams extending from the center of coveragefootprint were not deactivated may be serviced instead by the second orthird satellite. Deactivating some of the beams of the first satellitein this manner may result in reducing the out-of-band interferencecaused by the first satellite within coverage footprint 702.

It will be understood that FIGS. 7A and 7B are discussed in connectionwith the method 200 of FIG. 2A for illustration purposes only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For example,FIGS. 7A and 7B do not illustrate coverage being provided for all ofcoverage footprint 702 that is not covered by the first satellitefollowing the deactivation of the 30 finger-shaped beams extending outfrom the center of coverage footprint 702. Nevertheless, in someparticular implementations, beam assignments for one or more additionalsatellites may be defined such that beams from one or more other suchsatellites provide coverage for the remaining portion of the coveragefootprint 702 that is not covered by the first satellite following thedeactivation of the 30 finger-shaped beams extending out from the centerof coverage footprint 702. Furthermore, FIG. 7B illustrates all 48 beamsof the second satellite and all 48 beams of the third satellite as beingactivated. However, in some particular implementations, the beamassignments defined for the second and third satellites may call for oneor more beams of the second satellite being deactivated and one or morebeams of the third satellite being deactivated such that one or moreportions of coverage footprint 704 are not covered by the secondsatellite and/or one or more portions of coverage footprint 706 are notcovered by the third satellite. In this manner, out-of-band interferencegenerated by the second and/or third satellite also may be reduced.Moreover, while FIG. 7B illustrates the beam assignment for the firstsatellite calling for a relatively simple pattern where all 30 of thefinger-shaped beams extending from the center of coverage footprint 702being deactivated and all 18 of the inner beams of coverage footprint702 remaining active, a beam assignment could call for any possiblevariation or permutation of individual beams being deactivated andactivated.

In certain implementations, particularly for LEO constellations ofcommunications satellites in near-polar orbits, beam assignments for anindividual satellite in which one or more of the beams of the satelliteare deactivated may be sought following a determination that thesatellite is anticipated to reach a position in its orbit that exceeds apredefined latitude (e.g., ±30° or 35° latitude). In suchimplementations, the system may attempt to define beam assignmentsduring a defined period of time for all satellites in the system thatexceed the predefined latitude in a manner that seeks to provide full(or nearly full) coverage for the regions above the defined latitudewhile minimizing the total number of active beams system wide. In somesystems, when a particular region is covered by two or more beamssubject to deactivation, the heuristics involved in defining the beamassignments for the individual satellites may call for selecting thebeam to cover the particular region that is provided by the satellite atthe highest latitude. Additionally or alternatively, in certainimplementations, beam assignments for an individual satellite in whichone or more of the beams of the satellite are deactivated may be soughtfollowing a determination that the satellite is anticipated to reach aposition in its orbit from which the satellite is expected to provideprimary coverage for a region determined to be sensitive to out-of-bandinterference.

Additionally or alternatively, in certain implementations, the beamassignment for the first satellite may be determined based on apredicted or actual amount of out-of-band interference generated by thefirst satellite according to the number of beams of the first satelliteactivated during the defined time period. For example, in suchimplementations, if the predicted or actual out-of-band interferenceexceeds a predefined threshold value, the beam assignment for the firstsatellite may include instructions to shut off or de-activate particularbeams of the first satellite.

In certain implementations, the beam assignments defined for the firstand second satellites at steps 220 and 225 may be recorded or otherwisestored in the form of beam laydown tables for the first and secondsatellites.

At step 230, the beam assignments for the first and second satellitesare transmitted to the first and second satellites, respectively. Insome implementations, the beam assignments may be instructions that eachrespective satellite acts on. Furthermore, in certain implementations,beam assignments may be controlled by the transmission of theinstructions from a central control unit, such as, for example, aterrestrial management system located at or in communication with anEarth station. In such implementations, a beam controller on eachsatellite controls the beams provided by the satellite responsive toinstructions received from the Earth station. In alternativeimplementations, process 200 may be performed by one or more processorsor other electronic logic units on board one or more of the satellitesof the satellite network. In such implementations, beam assignments maybe communicated to other satellites via wireless communicationscross-links. Such implementations may be useful for real-time or nearreal-time distribution of beam assignment instructions, for example, tocut down on latency. In particular implementations, a series of beamassignments for some future time span is transmitted. In suchimplementations, the beam assignments may be stored in memory at eachsatellite and used until a new or updated set of assignments orinstructions is received at some future time. In certainimplementations, the beam assignments are pre-loaded before satellitelaunch and are updated periodically when new beam assignments aredefined.

With reference to FIG. 2B, a method 250 for load balancing for asatellite communications network is shown in accordance with anon-limiting implementation of the present disclosure. In someimplementations, the method 250 illustrated in FIG. 2B may be performedby the processor(s) 156 a of FIG. 1 executing beam planning process 154stored in memory 152.

As illustrated in FIG. 2B, at step 255, anticipated positions ofindividual satellites within a satellite communications network (e.g., aLEO constellation of communications satellites) are determined. In someimplementations, the anticipated positions of the individual satellitesmay be determined based on planned orbits for the satellites.Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations, the anticipatedpositions of the individual satellites may be determined based onsatellite ephemeris data and/or real-time or near real-time datareceived from one or more of the individual satellites.

At step 260, a determination is made, based on the anticipated positionsof the satellites, that, during a defined period of time, a coveragefootprint for a first satellite provides primary coverage of a hightraffic region during a defined time period. With reference to FIG. 7A,for example, a determination may be made that the coverage footprint 702for a first satellite provides primary coverage for a high trafficregion in Western and Central Europe.

The determination that a satellite provides primary coverage for anyparticular region during a defined period of time, including, forexample, a high traffic region, may be based on any of a number ofdifferent criteria. For example, in some implementations, it may bedetermined that a satellite provides primary coverage for a particularregion during a defined period of time if, during the defined period oftime, the satellite is the closest satellite among the satellites of thesatellite network to the particular region. Additionally oralternatively, in some implementations, it may be determined that asatellite provides primary coverage for a particular region during adefined period of time if, during the defined period of time, thecoverage footprint of the satellite covers the greatest percentage ofthe area of the particular region out of all of the satellites of thesatellite network. Furthermore, in some implementations, it may bedetermined that a satellite provides primary coverage for a particularregion if, on average, the beams provided by the satellite that providecoverage for the particular region during the defined time period arethe highest strength and/or have the highest gain of all of the beamsprovided by satellites of the satellite network that provide coveragefor the particular region during the defined time period. In someimplementations, one or more high traffic regions may be predefined, forexample, based on historical communications traffic volume through thesatellite network originating from and/or terminating in the particularregion. In such implementations, the predefined high traffic regions mayremain defined as high traffic regions until the system is otherwiseupdated. Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations, one ormore high traffic regions may be defined in real-time or near real-time,for example, based on current, or a recent sliding window of,communications traffic volume through the satellite network originatingfrom and/or terminating in the particular region.

In some implementations, when the coverage footprint for an individualsatellite is determined to provide primary coverage of a high trafficregion, a process to reduce the number of beams provided by thesatellite while the coverage footprint for the satellite providesprimary coverage of the high traffic region may be triggeredautomatically.

At step 265, a determination is made, based on the anticipated positionsof the satellites, that, during the defined period of time, portions ofthe coverage footprint for the first satellite (and/or the high trafficregion) also will be covered by one or more coverage footprints of othersatellites of the satellite communications network. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 7A, a determination may be made that portions of thecoverage footprint 702 of the first satellite also will be covered bythe coverage footprints of other satellites (e.g., coverage footprints704 and 706 of a second and third satellite, respectively) during thedefined time period.

Based on having determined that the coverage footprint for the firstsatellite provides primary coverage of the high traffic region duringthe defined time period and that portions of the coverage footprint forthe first satellite also will be covered by coverage footprints for theother satellites during the defined time period, at step 270, a beamassignment for the first satellite is defined for the defined timeperiod in which a subset of the beams of the first satellite areinactive, and, at step 275, a beam assignment for a second satellite isdefined for the defined time period in which a subset of the beams ofthe second satellite are active. For example, referring to FIG. 7B,based on having determined that the coverage footprint 702 of the firstsatellite provides primary coverage of the high traffic region (e.g.,Western and Central Europe) and that portions of the coverage footprint702 of the first satellite also will be covered by the coveragefootprints of other satellites, including, for example, the coveragefootprints 704 and 706 of a second and third satellite, respectively, abeam assignment for the first satellite may be defined in which the 30finger-shaped beams extending out from the center of coverage footprint702 are deactivated while the 18 inner beams remain activated.Meanwhile, all 48 beams of the second satellite may be activated. Inthis manner, individual ones of some of the finger-shaped beamsextending out from the center of coverage footprint 704 may providecoverage for a portion of the coverage footprint 702 that is not coveredby the first satellite following the deactivation of the 30finger-shaped beams extending out from the center of coverage footprint702. Similarly, as also illustrated in FIG. 7B, all 48 beams of thethird satellite also may be activated. In this manner, individual onesof some of the finger-shaped beams extending out from the center ofcoverage footprint 706 may provide coverage for a portion of thecoverage footprint 702 that is not covered by the first satellitefollowing the deactivation of the 30 finger-shaped beams extending outfrom the center of coverage footprint 702. Consequently, a subscriberterminal located within coverage footprint 702 that otherwise may beserviced by the first satellite if the 30 finger-shaped beams extendingfrom the center of coverage footprint were not deactivated may beserviced instead by the second satellite or the third satellite.Deactivating some of the beams of the first satellite in this manner mayresult in reducing the load on the first satellite and/or balancing theload on the satellite network attributable to the high traffic regionacross multiple satellites during the defined time period instead ofservicing it entirely (or primarily) with the first satellite.

It will be understood that FIGS. 7A and 7B are discussed in connectionwith FIG. 2B for illustration purposes only and are not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure. For example, FIGS. 7A and 7Bdo not illustrate coverage being provided for all of coverage footprint702 that is not covered by the first satellite following thedeactivation of the 30 finger-shaped beams extending out from the centerof coverage footprint 702. Nevertheless, in some particularimplementations, beam assignments for one or more additional satellitesmay be defined such that beams from one or more other such satellitesprovide coverage for the remaining portion of the coverage footprint 702that is not covered by the first satellite following the deactivation ofthe 30 finger-shaped beams extending out from the center of coveragefootprint 702. Furthermore, FIG. 7B illustrates all 48 beams of thesecond satellite and all 48 beams of the third satellite as beingactivated. However, in some particular implementations, the beamassignments defined for the second and third satellites may call for oneor more beams of the second satellite being deactivated and one or morebeams of the third satellite being deactivated such that one or moreportions of coverage footprint 704 are not covered by the secondsatellite and/or one or more portions of coverage footprint 706 are notcovered by the third satellite. In this manner, loads within one or moreregions under (or partially covered by) these coverage footprintssimilarly may be balanced across multiple satellites. Moreover, whileFIG. 7B illustrates the beam assignment for the first satellite callingfor a relatively simple pattern where all 30 of the finger-shaped beamsextending from the center of coverage footprint 702 are deactivated andall 18 of the inner beams of coverage footprint 702 remain active, abeam assignment could call for any possible variation or permutation ofindividual beams being deactivated and activated.

In certain implementations, the beam assignments defined for the firstand second satellites at steps 270 and 275 may be recorded or otherwisestored in the form of beam laydown tables for the first and secondsatellites.

At step 280, the beam assignments for the first and second satellitesare transmitted to the first and second satellites, respectively. Insome implementations, the beam assignments may be instructions that eachrespective satellite acts on. Furthermore, in certain implementations,beam assignments may be controlled by the transmission of theinstructions from a central control unit, such as, for example, aterrestrial management system located at or in communication with anEarth station. In such implementations, a beam controller on eachsatellite controls the beams provided by the satellite responsive toinstructions received from the Earth station. In alternativeimplementations, process 250 may be performed by one or more processorsor other electronic logic units on board one or more of the satellitesof the satellite network. In such implementations, beam assignments maybe communicated to other satellites via wireless communicationscross-links. Such implementations may be useful for real-time or nearreal-time distribution of beam assignment instructions, for example, tocut down on latency. In particular implementations, a series of beamassignments for some future time span is transmitted. In suchimplementations, the beam assignments may be stored in memory at eachsatellite and used until a new or updated set of assignments orinstructions is received at some future time. In certainimplementations, the beam assignments are pre-loaded before satellitelaunch and are updated periodically when new beam assignments aredefined.

Aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented entirely inhardware, entirely in software (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.) or in combinations of software and hardware that mayall generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,”“component,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosuremay take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or morecomputer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodiedthereon.

Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be utilized.The computer-readable media may be a computer-readable signal medium ora computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage mediummay be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device,or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of such a computer-readable storage medium includethe following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a randomaccess memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an appropriate optical fiberwith a repeater, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), anoptical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitablecombination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, acomputer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium thatis not a computer-readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer-readable signal medium may be transmitted usingany appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF signals, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including object oriented programming languages,dynamic programming languages, and/or procedural programming languages.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate examples ofthe architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of systems, methods and computer program productsaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure. In this regard,each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executableinstructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). Itshould also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order illustrated inthe figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact,be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions.

While the out-of-band interference mitigation techniques and the loadbalancing techniques disclosed herein are described frequently in thecontext of LEO constellations of communications satellites in near-polarorbits, the out-of-band interference mitigation techniques and the loadbalancing techniques disclosed herein may be employed in any of a numberof a variety of other satellite network configurations, including, forexample, in orbits other than near-polar orbits and/or low-Earth orbitincluding medium-Earth orbit (“MEO”) and geostationary orbit (“GEO”).

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularaspects only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of anymeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any disclosed structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of the present disclosure has been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of thedisclosure. The aspects of the disclosure herein were chosen anddescribed in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and thepractical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the artto understand the disclosure with various modifications as are suited tothe particular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for load balancing within aconstellation of low-Earth orbit communications satellites, the methodcomprising: determining, using one or more processors, anticipatedpositions of each of a plurality of satellites within the constellation,wherein each respective satellite of the plurality of satellites has anantenna system configured to provide multiple beams that collectivelydefine a coverage footprint for the respective satellite with individualones of the beams configured to provide coverage of respective portionsof the coverage footprint; determining, using the one or more processorsand based on the determined anticipated positions of each of thesatellites, that, during a defined time period: a first coveragefootprint for a first satellite from among the plurality of satellitesprovides primary coverage of a high traffic region, and portions of thefirst coverage footprint for the first satellite also will be covered bycoverage footprints for other satellites from among the plurality ofsatellites; defining, using the one or more processors and based onhaving determined that, during the defined time period, the firstcoverage footprint for the first satellite provides primary coverage ofa high traffic region and that portions of the first coverage footprintfor the first satellite also will be covered by coverage footprints forthe other satellites: a beam assignment for the first satellite duringthe defined time period in which a first subset of beams of the firstsatellite configured to provide coverage of a first portion of the firstcoverage footprint are inactive, and a beam assignment for a secondsatellite from among the plurality of satellites during the defined timeperiod in which a second subset of beams of the second satellite areactive, the second subset of beams of the second satellite providingcoverage within the first portion of the first coverage footprint duringthe defined time period; and causing, using the one or more processors,the beam assignment for the first satellite to be transmitted to thefirst satellite and the beam assignment for the second satellite to betransmitted to the second satellite.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe beam assignment for the first satellite comprises an instruction tode-activate a first beam provided by the first satellite during thedefined time period, wherein the first beam was active immediately priorto the defined time period.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining that, during the defined time period, the first coveragefootprint for the first satellite provides primary coverage of a hightraffic region comprises determining that, during the defined timeperiod, the first coverage footprint for the first satellite providesprimary coverage of a pre-defined high traffic region.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining that, during the defined time period, thefirst coverage footprint for the first satellite provides primarycoverage of a high traffic region comprises determining that currenttraffic volume in the first coverage footprint for the first satelliteis high.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the beam assignment for thesecond satellite enables the second satellite to service a communicationsession with a terminal located within the first portion of the firstcoverage footprint for the first satellite.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the terminal is configured to establish the communicationsession with whichever one of the satellites within the constellation ofsatellites from which signals received by the terminal are strongest,and wherein signals received by the terminal would be strongest from thefirst satellite if the first subset of beams were not inactive.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first satellite and second satellite eachcomprise: an antenna array configured to generate the multiple beams;and a controller configured to activate and de-activate individual onesof the multiple beams responsive to instructions.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein: defining the beam assignment for the first satellite duringthe defined time period includes storing the beam assignment for thefirst satellite during the defined time period in a first beam laydowntable that defines beam assignments for the first satellite duringmultiple periods of time; defining the beam assignment for the secondsatellite during the defined time period includes storing the beamassignment for the second satellite during the defined time period in asecond beam laydown table that defines beam assignments for the secondsatellite during multiple periods of time; causing the beam assignmentfor the first satellite to be transmitted to the first satellite and thebeam assignment for the second satellite to be transmitted to the secondsatellite includes causing the first beam laydown table to betransmitted to the first satellite and the second beam laydown table tobe transmitted to the second satellite.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the first beam laydown table defines the beam assignments forthe first satellite during multiple periods of time by defining whetherindividual beams are active during each period of time, and wherein thesecond beam laydown table defines the beam assignments for the secondsatellite during multiple periods of time by defining whether individualbeams are active during each period of time.
 10. A system for managingcommunications satellites within a constellation of low-Earth orbitcommunications satellites to balance loading, the system comprising: oneor more processors; and a memory coupled to the processors comprisinginstructions executable by the processors, the processors operable whenexecuting the instructions to: determine anticipated positions of eachof a plurality of satellites within the constellation, wherein eachrespective satellite of the plurality of satellites has an antennasystem configured to provide multiple beams that collectively define acoverage footprint for the respective satellite with individual ones ofthe beams configured to provide coverage of respective portions of thecoverage footprint; determine, based on the determined anticipatedpositions of each of the satellites, that, during a defined time period:a first coverage footprint for a first satellite from among theplurality of satellites provides primary coverage of a high trafficregion, and portions of the first coverage footprint for the firstsatellite also will be covered by coverage footprints for othersatellites from among the plurality of satellites; define, based onhaving determined that, during the defined time period, the firstcoverage footprint for the first satellite provides primary coverage ofa high traffic region and that portions of the first coverage footprintfor the first satellite also will be covered by coverage footprints forthe other satellites: a beam assignment for the first satellite duringthe defined time period in which a first subset of beams of the firstsatellite configured to provide coverage of a first portion of the firstcoverage footprint are inactive, and a beam assignment for a secondsatellite from among the plurality of satellites during the defined timeperiod in which a second subset of beams of the second satellite areactive, the second subset of beams of the second satellite providingcoverage within the first portion of the first coverage footprint duringthe defined time period; and cause the beam assignment for the firstsatellite to be transmitted to the first satellite and the beamassignment for the second satellite to be transmitted to the secondsatellite.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the beam assignment forthe first satellite comprises an instruction to de-activate a first beamprovided by the first satellite during the defined time period, whereinthe first beam was active immediately prior to the defined time period.12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processors operable to determinethat, during the defined time period, the first coverage footprint forthe first satellite provides primary coverage of a high traffic regioncomprise processors operable to determine that, during the defined timeperiod, the first coverage footprint for the first satellite providesprimary coverage of a pre-defined high traffic region.
 13. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the processors operable to determine that, during thedefined time period, the first coverage footprint for the firstsatellite provides primary coverage of a high traffic region compriseprocessors operable to determine that current traffic volume in thefirst coverage footprint for the first satellite is high.
 14. The systemof claim 10, wherein the beam assignment for the second satelliteenables the second satellite to service a communication session with aterminal located within the first portion of the first coveragefootprint for the first satellite.
 15. The system of claim 14, whereinthe terminal is configured to establish the communication session withwhichever one of the satellites within the constellation of satellitesfrom which signals received by the terminal are strongest, and whereinsignals received by the terminal would be strongest from the firstsatellite if the first subset of beams were not inactive.
 16. A methodfor load balancing within a constellation of low-Earth orbitcommunications satellites, wherein each respective satellite has aphased array antenna configured to provide multiple beams thatcollectively define a coverage footprint for the respective satellitewith individual ones of the beams configured to provide coverage of arespective portion of the coverage footprint, the method comprising:determining that a first coverage footprint for a first satellite withinthe constellation of satellites provides primary coverage of a hightraffic region; as a consequence of having determined that the firstcoverage footprint for the first satellite covers a high traffic region,inactivating a first subset of beams of the first satellite configuredto provide coverage of a first portion of the first coverage footprint;and while the first subset of beams of the first satellite are inactive,operating a second satellite within the constellation of satellites forwhich a second coverage footprint overlaps with the first coveragefootprint with a second subset of beams configured to provide coveragewithin the first portion of the first coverage footprint as active. 17.The method of claim 16 further comprising: inactivating a third subsetof beams of the first satellite configured to provide coverage of asecond portion of the first coverage footprint as a consequence ofhaving determined that the first coverage footprint for the firstsatellite provides primary coverage of a high traffic region; and whilethe third subset of beams of the first satellite are inactive, operatinga third satellite within the constellation of satellites for which athird coverage footprint overlaps with the first coverage footprint witha fourth subset of beams configured to provide coverage within thesecond portion of the first coverage footprint as active.
 18. The methodof claim 16 wherein determining that the first coverage footprint forthe first satellite provides primary coverage of a high traffic regioncomprises determining that the first coverage footprint for the firstsatellite provides primary coverage of a predefined high traffic region.19. The method of claim 16 wherein determining that the first coveragefootprint for the first satellite provides primary coverage of a hightraffic region comprises determining that current traffic volume in thefirst coverage footprint for the first satellite is high.
 20. The methodof claim 16 further comprising, while the first subset of beams of thefirst satellite are inactive, establishing a communications sessionbetween a terminal located within the first portion of the firstcoverage footprint for the first satellite and the second satelliteusing one or more beams from the second subset of beams.